As expected, Sony announced the successor to its PSP in the wee hours of the morning in Japan. Codename NGP, standing for Next Generation Portable, is set to release later this year with some kick ass specs and features. Let’s not dilly dally — here’s the hot new features:
- 5″ multi-touch OLED display
- Multi-touch pad on the back of the NGP
- Dual analog sticks
- Two cameras (front and rear)
- Software titles on flash memory-based cards (allowing size expansion on a per-game basis, as needed)
- Three motion sensors, gyroscope, accelerometer and electronic compass (essentially Six-axis controls)
- Wi-Fi and 3G network connectivity
- PlayStation Network access, including “LiveArea”, “Near” and “Activity” log (features Trophies)
- NGP will be able to play PSP titles, minis, PS one classics, video and comics from the PlayStation Store.
If you haven’t figured it out, the handheld sounds pretty fucking badass. So what is all this good stuff? LiveArea is essentially the new touch-based navigation structure, potentially replacing the XMB. Near uses the GPS in the NGP and to find your friends that might be around you. Activity is just what is sounds like: a running log of all your friends’ accomplishments on the NGP. Yes, Trophies are coming to the device.
What really has me excited for the NGP (not final product name) are the games currently in development. At the PlayStation Meeting, some killer games were shown off, including Metal Gear Solid 4 and Uncharted. The graphics look very much like their PS3 counterparts, which is astounding. And if those games don’t excite you, the PlayStation.Blog has a full list of games in development:
- Killzone
- Uncharted
- WipEout
- LittleBigPlanet
- Call of Duty
- Resistance
- Little Deviants
- Hot Shots Golf
- Reality Fighters
- Gravity Daze
- Smart As
- Broken
- Hustle Kings
These are essentially just first party titles, but they do seem like enough to make the platform a worthwhile purchase. I cannot wait for E3 to get hands on with this puppy and see some of the games first-hand. That, and waiting for Sony to give it a final name, release date and price. Please be less than the 3DS…
Trackbacks/Pingbacks
[...] able to access the PlayStation Store.Games developed for PlayStation Suite will also be playable on the new NGP handheld, meaning that developing once will allow a broader audience and potential greater return on the [...]